Improvement in hemp-brakes



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.-

J. E. M'CDONALD, or FAYETTE, MIssouEi.

IMPROVEMENT IN HEM P-BRAK'ES..

Specilicaton forming part of Letters'atentf'o. 31,899, dated April 2, 1861.

To all whom it may concern: l

Be it known that I, J. R. MCDONALD, of. Fayette, in the county of Howard and State of Missouri, have invented a newpand Improved Machine for Breaking and Dressing Hemp; and I do hereby declare that the following is Ya ful, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had -toV the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specifica# tion, in which- Figure l is a transverse vertical section of my invention, :v .'c, Fig. 2, indicating the plane of section; Fig. 2, a plan or top view of the same with the cap removed; Fig. 3, a detached sectional view .of one of' the journals of the revolving beater of the same with its adjoining partys.

`Similar letters of reference indicatecorrc; spondingparts in the several figures.

This invention relates to certain improvements in that class of hemp-brakes in which a revolving beater is employed,and has for its object the ykeeping of the journals of the beater free from' tow and other substances which have hitherto found their way into .the journal-box and impeded the operation of the machine.

To enable those skilled in the art .to fully understand and-construct my invention, I will proceed to describe it.- j

A represents a rectangular'frame, on the upperpart of whicha shaft, B, is'placed and allowed to rotate freely. The Y journals a. of this shaft are fitted in proper bearings 1),'. and on theshaft B, adjoining each journal'a, there is placed a guard, C. These guards C may be of cylindrical form, or they mayl be segments of a sphere, their convex surfaces be# ing inward or facing toward the center of the shaft B, as shown clearly in Fig. 2. The up` per parts of the guards C arecovered orincased bytcaps D, which are attached to the frame A. Ihe caps Dextend upward at the outer sides ofthe guards, and project over their upper edges, as sh'own clearly in Fig. 3;

On the 'shaft B, and adjoining each guard C, there are secured four arms, c. The outer parts of these arms are provided 4with projections which, in connection with the ends of the arms, serve as bearings for bars e, which are secured tothe arms by bolts f f', which, pass through the bars at right angles to each other,

as shown in Fig. l, the bolt f passing through the projections d.

To the arms c and bars e blinds or strips g are attached. Thesev blinds or strips extend the whole length of the bars e, and they pre4 ject down from them asuitable distance, nearly tothe shaft B. The facewsides of the blinds This cap isa segment of a cylinder, and its back part is in contact with the fran'ie A, a space, i', being allowed at its front end,through which the hempv is fed to the machine.' On the front end ofthe frame A there is secured a bar, VF. This bar may be of Aqiiadrilateral form.' and it is secured to the frame Ab'y bolts' j, which pass through oblong slots k in the..

bars Z ofthe franieA. (See Fig. 2.)

The operation of thc machine is as follows: The shaft B may be rotated by any convenient power. and the hemp is shoved along over the bar F, the bars c acting upon the hemp, and

breaking its woody portion intol piecesl of greater or less length by adjustingthe bar or rest F nearer to or farther from the path of rotation ofthe bars e. The broken woo-dy portion of the hemp isseparated from the fibrous portion by the action of the bars e upon it as the hemp passes down the curved partit' of the concave. The strips or blinds g eifectually prevent the hemp wrapping around the bars e and the guards G, and caps D prevent -toW,

trash, or other substances working into the journal-boxes b. K

Having thus described myinvention, I claim-` p The arrangement of the cap D andg'uardC with the boxes b and shaft B, as herein shown and described, for the purposes set forth.

J. R. MCDONALD.

Witnesses:Y

GEO. H. Caisson, C. H; STEWART.. 

